Fast, precise, and low-cost diagnostic testing to identify persons infected with SARS–CoV-2 virus is pivotal to control the global pandemic of COVID-19 that began in late 2019. The gold standard ...method of diagnostic recommended is the RT-qPCR test. However, this method is not universally available, and is time-consuming and requires specialized personnel, as well as sophisticated laboratories. Currently, machine learning is a useful predictive tool for biomedical applications, being able to classify data from diverse nature. Relying on the artificial intelligence learning process, spectroscopic data from nasopharyngeal swab and tracheal aspirate samples can be used to leverage characteristic patterns and nuances in healthy and infected body fluids, which allows to identify infection regardless of symptoms or any other clinical or laboratorial tests. Hence, when new measurements are performed on samples of unknown status and the corresponding data is submitted to such an algorithm, it will be possible to predict whether the source individual is infected or not. This work presents a new methodology for rapid and precise label-free diagnosing of SARS-CoV-2 infection in clinical samples, which combines spectroscopic data acquisition and analysis via artificial intelligence algorithms. Our results show an accuracy of 85% for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swab samples collected from asymptomatic patients or with mild symptoms, as well as an accuracy of 97% in tracheal aspirate samples collected from critically ill COVID-19 patients under mechanical ventilation. Moreover, the acquisition and processing of the information is fast, simple, and cheaper than traditional approaches, suggesting this methodology as a promising tool for biomedical diagnosis vis-à-vis the emerging and re-emerging viral SARS-CoV-2 variant threats in the future.
PurposeFibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLHCC) is a rare primary liver malignancy often diagnosed at advanced stages. While there are limited data on the efficacy of specific agents, we aim to ...report outcomes of patients treated with systemic therapies and explore prognostic factors.Patients and MethodsMedical records of patients treated between 2010 and 2022 were reviewed. Treatments were defined after multidisciplinary assessment. Descriptive statistics were used for baseline demographics. Time-to-event outcomes were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, compared by log-rank and adjusted by a regression model. Radiomic features (including size, shape, and texture) of the primary lesion were extracted and dimensionality reduced. An unsupervised Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) clustering was performed, and survival was compared between clusters.ResultsWe identified 23 patients: 12 males, with a median age of 23.6 years. At diagnosis, 82.6% had metastases, most frequently to the lungs (39.1%), lymph nodes (39.1%), and peritoneum (21.7%). Patients received a median of three lines (1-8) of treatment, including different regimens. Sorafenib (39.1%), capecitabine (30.4%), and capecitabine/interferon (13%) were the most used first-line regimens. The median time-to-failure was 3.8 months (95% CI: 3.2-8.7). Capecitabine + interferon (42.1%) and platinum combinations (39.1%) were the most used second-line regimens, with a time-to-failure of 3.5 months (95% CI: 1.5-11.6). Median overall survival was 26.7 months (95% CI: 15.1-40.4). A high baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was associated with worse survival (p=0.02). Radiomic features identified three clusters, with one cluster (n=6) having better survival (40.4 vs 22.6 months, p=0.039). Tumor sphericity in the arterial phase was the most relevant characteristic associated with a better prognosis (accuracy=0.93).ConclusionFLHCC has unique features compared to conventional HCC, including young onset, gender balance, and absence of hepatopathy. Systemic therapies can provide encouraging survival, but lack of uniformity precludes defining a preferable regimen. Radiomics and NLR were suggested to correlate with prognosis and warrant further validation.
The secretive behavior and life history of snakes makes studying their biology, distribution, and the epidemiology of venomous snakebite challenging. One of the most useful, most versatile, and ...easiest to collect types of biological data are photographs, particularly those that are connected with geographic location and date-time metadata. Photos verify occurrence records, provide data on phenotypes and ecology, and are often used to illustrate new species descriptions, field guides and identification keys, as well as in training humans and computer vision algorithms to identify snakes. We scoured eleven online and two offline sources of snake photos in an attempt to collect as many photos of as many snake species as possible, and attempt to explain some of the inter-species variation in photograph quantity among global regions and taxonomic groups, and with regard to medical importance, human population density, and range size. We collected a total of 725,565 photos—between 1 and 48,696 photos of 3098 of the world's 3879 snake species (79.9%), leaving 781 “most wanted” species with no photos (20.1% of all currently-described species as of the December 2020 release of The Reptile Database). We provide a list of most wanted species sortable by family, continent, authority, and medical importance, and encourage snake photographers worldwide to submit photos and associated metadata, particularly of “missing” species, to the most permanent and useful online archives: The Reptile Database, iNaturalist, and HerpMapper.
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•We collected 725,565 photos of 3098 snake species (79.9%), leaving 781 “most wanted” species with no photos.•A total of 107 countries, mostly developed, small, or insular, have all species represented.•Medically-important venomous snakes have more photos in online databases than other species.•We provide a list of most wanted species sortable by family, continent, authority, and medical importance.•We encourage photographers to submit photos and metadata to The Reptile Database, iNaturalist, & HerpMapper.
ABSTRACT Objective: Perfectionist beliefs about emotions impact the experience and expression of emotions, being linked to increased levels of depression and anxiety. Given the influence of culture ...in the representation and expression of emotion, it is possible that beliefs vary across countries, but few empirical studies have been conducted on the theme. This study aims to compare Brazilian and British samples regarding their beliefs about emotional experience and expression. Methods: The current study compared a total of 960 Brazilian and British participants, with the samples having a similar profile in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. Participants answered online the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Beliefs about Emotions Scale (BES). This study aims to compare Brazilian and British samples with regard to beliefs about emotional experience and expression. Results: Significant differences between samples were found for beliefs about emotions. As hypothesized, Brazilians scored lower on unhelpful beliefs about emotions, except for beliefs about experiencing negative feelings and emotional control. Differences in total BES scores remained even after the inclusion of depression and anxiety as covariates. Conclusions: Results suggest higher endorsement of perfectionist beliefs in a European versus a Latin American context, but highlight that this pattern depends on the specific beliefs being studied. These differences should be considered when working with people from different cultural backgrounds and developing cultural adaptations for clinical interventions and psychopathology models.
RESUMO Objetivo: Crenças perfeccionistas sobre emoções afetam a experiência e expressão de emoções, estando relacionadas a níveis aumentados de depressão e ansiedade. Dada a influência da cultura na representação e expressão de emoções, é possível que as crenças variem entre os países, mas poucos estudos empíricos foram realizados sobre o tema. Este estudo tem o objetivo de comparar amostras brasileiras e britânicas em relação às suas crenças sobre a experiência emocional e expressão. Métodos: O presente estudo comparou um total de 960 participantes brasileiros e britânicos, com as amostras tendo um perfil semelhante em termos de idade, gênero e etnia. Os participantes responderam on-line à Escala de Ansiedade Generalizada (GAD-7), ao Questionário de Saúde do Paciente (PHQ-9) e à Escala de Crenças sobre Emoções (BES). Resultados: Foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre as amostras em relação às crenças sobre emoções. Como hipotetizado, os brasileiros obtiveram pontuações mais baixas em crenças prejudiciais sobre emoções, exceto nas crenças sobre experienciar sentimentos negativos e controle emocional. As diferenças nos escores totais da BES permaneceram mesmo após a inclusão de depressão e ansiedade como covariáveis. Conclusões: Os resultados sugerem maior endosso de crenças perfeccionistas em um contexto europeu, em comparação com um contexto latino-americano, mas destacam que esse padrão depende das crenças específicas estudadas. Essas diferenças devem ser consideradas ao trabalhar com pessoas de diferentes origens culturais e no desenvolvimento de adaptações culturais para intervenções clínicas e modelos de psicopatologia.
The co-circulation of flaviviruses in tropical regions has led to the hypothesis that immunity generated by a previous dengue infection could promote severe disease outcomes in subsequent infections ...by heterologous serotypes. This study investigated the influence of antibodies generated by previous Zika infection on the clinical outcomes of dengue infection.
We enrolled 1,043 laboratory confirmed dengue patients and investigated their prior infection to Zika or dengue. Severe forms of dengue disease were more frequent in patients with previous Zika infection, but not in those previously exposed to dengue.
Our findings suggest that previous Zika infection may represent a risk factor for subsequent severe dengue disease, but we did not find evidence of antibody-dependent enhancement (higher viral titer or pro-inflammatory cytokine overexpression) contributing to exacerbation of the subsequent dengue infection.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
To assess whether medical orders within Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms reflect patients' preferences for care at the end of life.
This cross-sectional study assessed the ...agreement between medical orders in POLST forms and the free-form text documentation of an advance care planning conversation performed by an independent researcher during a single episode of hospitalization.
Inpatients at a single public university hospital, aged 21 years or older, and for whom one of their attending physicians provided a negative answer to the following question: "Would I be surprised if this patient died in the next year?" Data collection occurred between October 2016 and September 2017.
Agreement between medical orders in POLST forms and the free-form text documentation of an advance care planning conversation was measured by kappa statistics.
Sixty-two patients were interviewed. Patients' median (interquartile range) age was 62 (56-70) years, and 21 patients (34%) were women. Overall, in 7 (11%) cases, disagreement in at least 1 medical order for life-sustaining treatment was found between POLST forms and the content of the independent advance care planning conversation. The kappa statistic for cardiopulmonary resuscitation was 0.92 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82-1.00; for level of medical intervention, 0.90 (95% CI: 0.81-0.99); and for artificially administered nutrition, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.75-0.98).
The high level of agreement between medical orders in POLST forms and the documentation in an independent advance care planning conversation offers further support for the POLST paradigm. In addition, the finding that the agreement was not 100% underscores the need to confirm frequently that POLST medical orders accurately reflect patients' current values and preferences of care.
Human cysticercosis in Portugal VILHENA, M.; FONSECA, A. G.; DIAS, S. ...
Epidemiology and infection,
01/2017, Letnik:
145, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Cysticercosis, a leading cause of acquired epilepsy in developing countries, has been controlled or eradicated in industrialized countries. This paradigm has recently been challenged, with human ...neurocysticercosis (NCC) being increasingly diagnosed in these countries. In order to assess the NCC burden in Portugal, a retrospective study on NCC hospitalizations (2006–2013) was conducted based on the national database on hospital morbidity: 357 hospitalized cases were detected. NCC was most frequent in the following age groups: 20–64 years (n = 197, 55·2%) >64 years (n = 111, 31·1%), and <20 years (n = 49, 13·7%). In the Norte and Centro regions cases tended to be older than in the Lisboa and Vale do Tejo Region. The results raise concerns for imported and autochthonous disease, suggesting the Lisboa and Vale do Tejo Region, due to its higher frequency of cases at younger ages, as a priority for research and intervention, and further suggest that NCC should be under surveillance (notifiable). The National Observatory of Cysticercosis and Taeniasis has been established and will define NCC cases as well as monitoring and surveillance.
Plastic marine litter is becoming a major environmental concern. Microwaves (MWs) have potential for remote detection of floating macroplastics operating from satellites or airborne platforms, but ...very scarce and limited studies exist in the literature evaluating MW radar effectiveness for this purpose. First, we present the results of a systematic study on MW scattering of floating low-mass macroplastics at 2-20-GHz frequency band using radar techniques. Data were first collected in small-scale measurement campaigns carried out in an indoor facility capable of producing deep sea-like wave patterns, with different floating single-use plastic items. The study reveals that, for these targets, one important scattering contribution arises from the indentation they produce on the water. For the tested conditions, targets, and metrics, it was possible to detect several types of floating plastic targets down to 10-g/m2 concentration. Detection tended to significantly improve at the X-band, although the detection threshold depends on the combination of the mentioned conditions. Tests were also extended to two small-scale outdoor scenarios with natural wind and capillary waves. The detection of macroplastics was successful in these tested scenarios.
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) includes a heterogeneous group of biliary cancers with dismal prognosis and increasing incidence. Information on epidemiology and risk factors are scarce, particularly in ...Latin America.
Describe and analyze a multicentric cohort of CCA patients from Latin America.
The Ibero-Latin American Research Network on Cholangiocarcinoma (ILARN-CCA) Registry and ESCALON consortium (www.escalon.eu) collected data from patients diagnosed from 2010 and onwards.
183 patients with histologically/cytologically confirmed CCA were included from 5 tertiary hospitals (Brazil,Argentina,Chile,Ecuador and Peru). Median age at diagnosis was 62 years-old (IQR:25-87) and 55.7% were women. Most frequent risk factors were overweight/obesity (n=68;31.1%), diabetes (n=35;19.1%), NAFLD (n=14;7.7%), viral hepatitis (n=5;2.7%), cirrhosis (n=4;2.2%), gallstones (n=10;5.5%), primary sclerosing cholangitis (n=11;6%) and 21.3%(n=39) had no known-risk factor. Intrahepatic CCA was the predominant type (n=73;39.9%), followed by distal (n=49;26.8%) and perihilar (n=38;20.8%). Regional lymph-node invasion was found in 74 (40.4%) and metastasis in 79 (43.2%) patients. Upon diagnosis, 88 patients (48.1%) required upfront biliary stenting prior to main treatments, consisting in resection (n=39;21.3%) or palliative modalities (n=135;73.8%). Recurrence occurred in 64.1%(n=25), with median time-to-recurrence of 13.5 months (95%CI:6.5-18.8). Chemotherapy was delivered to 120 patients (Gemcitabine+Cisplatin:n=105;87.5%) with a median progression-free survival of 4.2 months (95%CI:3.4-4.9). Median overall survival of the entire cohort was 8.2 months (n=183;95%CI:6.3-10.2), 22.5 (n=39;95%CI:11.6-34.1) under surgery, 10.4 (n=87;95%CI:8.4-13.6) under chemotherapy and 2.5 (n=30;95%CI:1.5-3.9) without active treatments (log-rank p<0.001).
CCA is associated to diverse etiologies in Latin-America, particularly metabolic disorders. Surgical resection shows favorable outcome, highlighting the need of surveillance strategies in individuals at risk.
To assess the activity, safety and treatment patterns of sunitinib in patients with poor-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).
We retrospectively reviewed the charts of poor risk patients ...treated with sunitinib from October 2006 to July 2013 who met the eligibility criteria. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Tumor radiological response was measured according to RECIST 1.1 and adverse events (AEs) were assessed through standard criteria.
Median OS was 8.16 months (95% CI, 5.73-10.59). Of the 53 patients included in this analysis, 9 (17.0%) achieved partial response, 12 (22.6%) had stable disease. Median treatment duration was 3.30 months (95% CI: 1.96-4.63) and 26.4% of patients discontinued treatment due to toxicity. Grade 3 or higher AEs occurred in 39.6% of patients, the most common being fatigue (15.1%), neutropenia (9.5%), nausea, vomiting and diarrhea (7.5% each).
Sunitinib may benefit some unselected poor-risk patients, although the rates of AEs and drug discontinuation suggest a need for careful patient monitoring.
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